Emirates is the best airline in the world for 2013 and its Australian partner, Qantas, has re-entered the world’s top 10 carriers in this year’s annual World Airline Awards.

The awards were announced yesterday at the Paris Air Show.

Qantas made it into 10th position after having slipped outside the golden 10.

As well as being named top airline, Emirates received the awards for Best Airline Middle East and the world’s Best Inflight Entertainment. The awards are voted on by travellers from more than 160 countries.

President of Emirates Airline, Tim Clark, said: “These awards are widely regarded as the industry’s benchmark for excellence. For us, the awards clearly reflect a vote of confidence from global travellers, who acknowledge and appreciate our continuous drive to deliver high-quality service. To be voted ‘World’s Best Airline’ by millions of discerning travellers really is something for our 60,000 strong workforce to be proud of.”

Chief executive of Skytrax, Edward Plaisted, said the awards were “decided by travellers and represent a most important attribute to an airline, because they are the passenger’s choice.”

Qantas slipped from the World Airline Awards’ top 10 for the first time last year, dropping to number 15 from number eight in 2011. The Qantas ranking had dropped each year since 2008, when it had reached number three.

This year it has leapt five places in the rankings to be rated 10th best in the world. Virgin Australia was close on its heels in 13th place.

Last year, Qatar Airways was named world’s best airline for the second year in a row. This year, Emirates has nudged Qatar into second place.

Perhaps most surprisingly for Australalians and New Zealanders, carriers like Turkish Airlines, Asiana Airlines and Garuda Indonesia were placed more highly last year than local airlines Qantas, Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand. Any Australasians looking for a change in that this year will be disappointed.

The world’s best airlines 2013 are:

1. Emirates

2. Qatar Airways

3. Singapore Airlines

4. ANA All Nippon Airways

5. Asiana Airlines

6. Cathay Pacific

7. Etihad Airways

8. Garuda Indonesia

9. Turkish Airlines

10. Qantas

The World Airline Awards are determined by passenger surveys conducted by research firm Skytrax, which says it surveyed more than 18 million passengers.

Middle-Eastern and Asian carriers customarily dominate the top slots and that remains the case. There are no airlines from the US or Europe in the top 10, which means Qantas is considered better than any of those.

Singapore Airlines remained in third place for the second consecutive year.

Jetstar came second in the Best Low Cost Airline category, with AirAsia the winner.